mulie hunter

Red Rabbit your a genius!! Why didn't I think of that! Thats my new game plan!!!

Well I'm back from my first Elk hunt ever, didn't get one, but it was a learning experience. We saw lots of elk and were on bulls almost every day just couldn't seal the deal! The rut never kicked in, even though we were praying it would! On the third day of the hunt we saw two young bulls a spike and a 4x4 at the bottom of the hill we were glassing from. Since they wouldn't respond to calls we decide to work our way down hill and see how close we could get. On the way down the hill we got in the middle of a herd of cows we hadn't seen, they took off down hill and my hunting partner Steve starting cow calling. All of a sudden he says the bull is coming, the bull is coming! I'm waiting expecting one of the young bulls to appear, when this big 6x6 bull appears below me. My rangefinder is in my back pack. My mind says 40 yards down hill, so when he turns broadside I put my 40 pin on his vitals and release. To my shock the arrow hits high, about 2 inches below his spine!!! Now the only reason I'm sharing this is, I have a question. This is my 5th year bowhunting. I pratice year round with my bow out to 60 yards. The 2 guys with me say the bull was no more than 30 yards from me, a steep downhill shot with a strong wind in my face. Could that have affected my shot??? Or was it Bull fever????? I'm including some photos of the arrow and small blood drops. The bull survived, I'm pretty sure I saw him 4 days later in the same area with his cows.

The shot took place about 7am. We went back about 2:00pm to look for him. Based on the arrow we thought there was a slim chance it hit a artery. We followed the blood trail just drops like in the photo for about a half mile then it disappeared in a open meadow. We spread out and searched with out any sign of him. That was day 3, we hunted that area every day up until day 13 never finding any reason to believe the wound was fatal . As earlier stated on day 7 I'm sure I saw him again with his cows. Day 4-6 there was a smaller bull with the cows then on day 7, he's back and the smaller bull is out. Thanks to everyone for the advice on judging distance, I'm gonna practice that!!!

elkaholic- First post says it hit about 2 inches below spine. We concluded from the arrow and the blood we found as we tracked him it was not a fatal wound. We continued to hunt the area and did not see him again until 4 days later. I'm 99% sure it was the same bull. I too am sorry I didn't get a clean kill shot, but I've been hunting for over 30 years and know rifle hunters who have lost animals. So as Bobbyo said Get over it ! I'm moving on with some good advice from Coueswhitetail members.

Bownut, The next time I have a shot on a uphill or downhill shot I will remember that! Shoot low! Bobbyo, you are right I'm over it now! Of course at the time thoughts of retiring as a bowhunter and just becoming a rifle hunter entered my brain. And I did pursue some tree squirrels during the hunt, pretty tasty critters I must say. First time I had ever eaten them. BBQ over the grill at camp!! And most definetly that Redemption Bull is gonna be sweet! Thanks everyone for your encouragement and advice.

Gamehauler, couldn't agree with you more. Sad thing is before the hunt I looked at them and almost bought one! I'm gonna get one now. I'd like to hear your other Ideas. I'm always looking to improve myself as a bowhunter.

I just got back from my Bull elk hunt in 7 west. The rut had not kicked in. We hunted the entire hunt from Sept 11th until sept 24th. Bulls would bugle in some areas before first light until about 6:30 -7:00 am. We hunted water and spot and stalk! It was still warm and the Elk were very active at night. So I believe the rut is starting later. I think the early rifle hunters should be in luck! It was my first Elk hunt and I had a blast even though I didn't tag out.

We'll I'll be leaving for 7 west in a couple hours. I'm stayin for the entire hunt if that is what it takes!It is my first ever bull tag so I'm excited! Hopefully I'll be posting some pics in the days to come. Good luck to all the other archery elk hunters!

This past weekend me and my brother went up to unit 8 to do some scouting for our rifle deer hunt in Oct. of course we packed our bows. We saw some nice bucks but couldn't seal the deal. But the real reason for this post is we saw the biggest herd of elk I have ever saw. We spotted three elk in a huge meadow and as we began watching them we noticed more elk, we counted 71 Elk in that herd and then about 300 yards to the left of them we counted 30 more elk!!! I was totally amazed over 100 elk in one meadow in one day! Now I'm no elk expert by no means but is this normal for them in August? It was early morning about 5:50am and some of the bulls were bugling. I was wishin' I had a unit 8 Elk tag!

Guess it kinda the norm then, Being a desert dweller I'm not used to seeing that. It was definetly a treat to see! The meadow we saw them in was none of the above mentioned, but an area I've hunted mule deer in the past. I had seen elk there but never that many.

I got a leftover coues tag for my 16 year old daughter in 36a, the late nov. hunt. I hunted the unit on the early hunt in '07 and shot a small buck. It was getting well over 100 degrees in the daytime on that hunt. I'm just wondering who hunted this hunt last year, how was the weather? Deer movement? Any advice would be appreciated.

Webber, haven't recieved tag yet. bobbyo, you are correct its the hunt after the jr hunt. Thanks for the info on the junior camp, thats a great idea. I would enjoy helping out. Str8Shot, Thanks. Great info. hopefully we get that kind of weather for her hunt. Good luck on your hunt.

Bowtech makes good bows. But don't rule out Pse bows. I bought the 32" Pse Madness and love it.

As already stated the Stinger is a good entry level bow. The Pse Brute is another good bow for about $100.00 more.

I was 16 years old when I shot my first deer a 4x4 Desert Mulie.I've been hooked on mulies ever since!

Unit 8 Tag Mulie Tag for me. 12a Jr hunt for my 2 Boys.

It's My first Time hunting Elk, I'm wondering what you seasoned Elk hunters would consider to be a good Arrow and Broadhead to use for Elk? I'm thinking of using Carbon Express CX 400 Arrows And thinking about using a G5 Montec 100 grain Broadhead. I'm open to all suggestions.

My wife picked it up at a used furniture store a few years back for $25.00. I love It!!! Nice Broadheads Too!!!

Well here's the Arrow/Broadhead Combo I'm gonna use for Elk in Sept.. A 29" 340 Easton Carbon ST Excel (9.5gpi) with a G5 100 Grain Montec. I love those Montecs,They Fly great!!!!

300ultramag, I guess reading my first post you could get that impression. Anyway I purchased a PSE Bow Madness not to long ago, I'm getting it dialed in, and in the off season I've always loved to try out new "set-up's". It keeps me out practicing and by the time Bow season starts, I'm usually confident I got the right gear to do the job.

Regardless what you do... you better do it quick! If your just now thinking about a specific arrow and broadhead set up, your already behind the 8 ball.. Its all about confidence.... I suggest buying 2 different brands of arrows that are similar in spine, weight , length. sight them in and once youve found the arrow that fits you best then practice shooting fixed blade broadheads. ie. 4 blade muzzys are BAD TO THE BONE! (Oh yeah buy a dozen of the better of the 2 aroows previously mentioned) I would suggest Easton FMJs And Gold Tip XT hunter I don't think I'm behind the 8 ball, I've been Bowhunting for years, I've never been drawn for Elk though. As For Arrows I Have Carbon Express CX 400 29" 8.9 grains, Easton Carbon Excel 29" 9.5 grains, Beman Black Max MFX Arrows 29" 9.5 grains. I have Shuttle T-Lock broadheads 100 grain and just ordered the G5 Montec 100 grain, Also have the Rage 2 blade 100 grain, Rocket Steel heads, but reading the other post I think I will stick with a fixed blade for Elk. I Truly appreciate all the advice just wanted to see what has worked for others on Elk , since the biggest game I've hunted so far is deer.

Well I went and shot the 32" Madness, and loved it!!!! So now I got me a new bow for archery elk!!!! It is Fast, smooth shooting and for the money a great deal!!!! Probably the best single cam bow out there, sorry Matthews. PSE does it again!!!! Anyone else shooting one of these awesome bows?

Ha Ha, that's funny!!!! Actually 7" brace height, IBO 326 fps, I haven't checked my set up so don't know how fast I'm shooting, and this bow weighs in at 3.5 lbs.

There it Is!!!!!

32" PSE Bow Madness 30" draw/70lbs